Hampton Falls cleanup draws a crowd

Over 200 residents come out to rid streets of litter

HAMPTON FALLS — Picking up trash might not be considered a traditional community event, but in Hampton Falls about 200 townspeople and some out-of-towners turn out each spring for a yearly roadside cleanup event organized by the Conservation Commission.

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By Nancy Rineman

seacoastonline.com

By Nancy Rineman

Posted May. 9, 2014 at 2:00 AM

By Nancy Rineman

Posted May. 9, 2014 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

HAMPTON FALLS — Picking up trash might not be considered a traditional community event, but in Hampton Falls about 200 townspeople and some out-of-towners turn out each spring for a yearly roadside cleanup event organized by the Conservation Commission.

"Every year they come out in droves," said Bobbi Burns, who chairs the Conservation Commission. "Every year it's a consistently good crowd."

Burns said the cleanup initiative, which is the town's celebration of Earth Day, has been an annual event for a number of years, with participants meeting on a Saturday morning at the Town Dump, where they even reserve the areas they want to "clean up."

"Everyone has certain roads to cover," Burns said, adding that the town's three main roads — Routes 88, 84, and Drinkwater Road, as well as neighborhoods, all get covered. "Everyone has a favorite spot," Burns said.

"People are great," Burns said. "Once they commit to a road, they get it done."

"Officially, the hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., but we had people who started at 8 a.m. and some who went to 6 p.m.," Burns said.

At last weekend's gathering, one welcome change this year was the cooperation of the weather, Burns said, noting that volunteers are usually confronted by a day that is rainy or cold, or a combination of the two.

Burns said other than trash and bottles of many types, there were no treasures or items of an unusual nature reported this year.

"Other years there may have been a number of tires dumped," Burns said. "One year there was a dead skunk that someone found on the side of the road and they just put in their bag and brought it back."

Another positive for the day was participation by a group of students from Lincoln Akerman School.

Elizabeth Szeliga, who is a seventh- and eighth-grade teacher of humanities and English, is the advisor to the LAS community service group called "Mission Impact."

"The 15 or so members are a dedicated group of seventh- and eighth-graders," Szeliga said. "We do a variety of things, like food drives, fund-raising for Make-A-Wish, and much more."

On Saturday, Szeliga said there were 10 students who walked and worked with her at the cleanup, and about 20 more who participated in his or her own neighborhoods.

In response to questions about the experience and about the amount of trash they came away with, two eighth-graders voiced their feelings.

"I thought it was good we had this opportunity to help the community and make it better," said Joe Gyorda. "There were lots of cigarettes — and we missed so many — made you wish you had more time."

Gyorda said there were also a "lot of bottles" to be picked up.

Jessica Schleppy said she was impressed with "just how much trash is out there on the side of the roads."

And in the hope that no good deed goes unnoticed, Szeliga said her group of LAS students was rewarded when the manager of Flatbread in Hampton drove by them, and was so impressed with the kids being out on a Saturday morning picking up trash that she gave each of them a card for a free pizza.

"I think the kids really appreciated it and felt like working hard to make (the) community a better place pays off in so many ways," Szeliga said.

In addition to the cleanup, Szeliga said the Lincoln Akerman students also contributed to a bake sale at the brush dump that day, raising $36 for an organization called "Show Mercy," which helps support children in Uganda.

According to Burns, others who contributed to the cause included the Seabrook nuclear power plant, which supplied the trash bags and gloves, and Dick Robinson, road agent for the town, who helped out by using his truck to pick up bags of trash that were too heavy to carry.

Burns said that while it may seem unusual that a roadside cleanup is a popular event in Hampton Falls, it demonstrates to her one of the aspects that draws people to it.

"It's a beautiful small town in which we can all take pride and are willing to put some effort into maintaining," Burns said.